field changing numbers
hello,
i'm new to excel & am self taught, i am doing some data entry, (model #s, serial #s, & item description, etc), today when i entered a serial #, with no letters (only numbers) it turned it into, what appears to be some form of a (i guess) mathematical equasion (it adds letters & punctuiation marks). when i go back to the field and double click it, it goes back to normal. it also goes back to normal if i add a letter. it has not done this to me before & there are several other people who use this computer... i was just wondering if they may have changed something to do some form of math?
thank you for your time,
dave
What you're probably seeing is something like:
8.10129E+12
yes?
This is scientific notation, and it's one of the number formats used in Excel. Since you're entering serial numbers and model numbers, and won't be doing any math directly on those numbers, you can simply format all of your cells as text (Format -> Cells.. -> Choose 'Text' and click OK)
This way, all numbers, regardless of length, will show up as you intend.
hth
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